Orlando Fashion Square mall goes up for sale

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust executives told analysts in a recent conference call that the mall is one of five "non-strategic assets" they will sell to help pay down debt.

The company also will sell three Pennsylvania malls and another in New Jersey. Orlando Fashion Square is the real estate trust's only Florida property.

"They can elevate themselves by getting rid of that bottom tier of their portfolio," said Benjamin Yang, an analyst who covers the company for investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

PREIT, which owns 38 malls, could not be reached for comment Thursday. The company told analysts last month it hadn't sealed any deals for its properties but has heard from potential buyers. The company did not give any detail about asking prices.

But the company can expect to bring in much less than the $123 million it paid for Orlando Fashion Square in 2004, Yang said.

Central Florida's oldest major mall, opened in 1973, Orlando Fashion Square was hit particularly hard during the economic downturn. It lost many tenants and replaced national chains mostly with independent shops that often haven't stayed open long.

Whoever buys Orlando Fashion Square may have to remake it into a new development combining retail with offices or homes, said David Marks, president of Orlando-based retail-real estate firm Marketplace Advisors.